League Notes

QMI AGENCY's John Kryk reported NFL Officiating exec Jay Reid has "been in communication with the NHL for about a month, and spent the evening of Nov. 30 in the NHL’s 'Situation Room' in Toronto to see first-hand how the hockey league conducts video reviews from myriad, concurrent games using cutting-edge, real-time technology." NHL Senior VP/Hockey Operations Mike Murphy "raved about that technology, and said representatives not only from the NFL but the NBA and even the Australian rugby league have dropped by in recent weeks to see it in action." Murphy said, "Jay came in and actually sat with us for probably three hours and watched how the whole room functions. ... And he saw how we do it. He asked people questions" (QMI AGENCY, 12/12).

TAKE IT OUT OF THE GAME: In Ottawa, Mohammed Adam writes one day, sooner or later, an NHL player "is going to die from on-ice violence." This has been concluded "after watching replays of the latest act of hockey violence" involving Penguins D Brooks Orpik, who "was left unconscious on the ice" after Bruins LW Shawn Thornton hit him from behind. Judging from the Orpik incident "and others like it in the past, the real surprise is that an NHL player has not already died on the ice." The only reason this "hasn’t happened, given the violence on the ice day in, day out, is that the NHL has been lucky." That luck "will not last forever" (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 12/13).

GROWING PAINS: The CP's Scott Edmonds noted the CFL "doesn't want to stop at nine teams" after Ottawa comes into the league in '14 and is looking for a 10th market, "perhaps Moncton or Halifax." The biggest hurdle to expansion right now "seems to be finding a large enough stadium to accommodate a CFL team." Moncton Stadium in New Brunswick "drew just over 15,000" in '13 for a regular-season game between the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but its "regular capacity is only about 10,000" (CP, 12/12).